The 9 Best ‘Humans of New York’ Parodies You Should Be Following

It’s no secret that Humans of New York has become one of the greatest media sensations in recent years. It’s everywhere. We won’t go into too much detail, but about 20 million social media followers, a few bestselling books, you know.

The photojournalism project has become so popular that it’s inspired countless spinoffs. There’s one for nearly every university across the U.S. and a ton of major cities worldwide. Not every project inspired by Humans of New York is serious, though—there are plenty of parody accounts, many of which are arguably more entertaining than the original.

We’ve written about a few and some have made the rounds on the tech blogosphere. Now we’re presenting a roundup of the best so you can find all the “of New Yorks” that are funny, rather than sentimental/depressing/inspiring, in one place.

1. Millennials of New York

“Don’t tell anyone, but I’ve been in hiding for months. I legally changed my name and destroyed my cellphone, worried that they could track me with the GPS. I don’t use credit cards and never speak of my past. Leaving my life was painful, but I had no choice. All my friends started doing CrossFit. I dunno, I just had to get out of there.” (Photo: Facebook/Millennials of New York)

This truly hilarious parody began as a jokey article for Elite Daily, where Connor Toole and Alec MacDonald, the creators, both work as humor writers. After the initial article, they decided to spin the concept off into a Facebook page where they began to post daily photos and quotes, which begin seriously as if they could be a real HONY post and then trail off into satire. The page has garnered more than 200,000 followers on Facebook and Instagram in the past few months.

Mr. Toole told the Observer the posts were “obviously” inspired by Humans of New York, but that they “wanted to make something a little less inspirational.” He said they also found that starting off on a serious note makes it easy to fool the people who can’t detect satire and actually believe these are “real stories from real millennials.”

“For months I was utterly miserable. I was going to therapy three times a week and actually listed ‘crying’ as one of my hobbies on Tinder. After realizing nobody was going to solve my problems for me, I went to the zoo and paid $80 to take a picture with a penguin wearing a tiny sweater. I posted it on Instagram and it got 123 likes! 123!! I suddenly felt like my life had been filled with a purifying, healing light. I was able to completely stop going to therapy, and last weekend my ex even texted me ‘Mouth?’ at 3 a.m. I think things are finally starting to turn around. Thank you so much, Instagram.” (Photo: Facebook/Millennials of New York)

2. Felines of New York

“I try doing The New York Times crossword puzzle every morning. Just to get my brain going. After about five minutes, I give up because I remember I don’t know how to read.” – Finn, Downtown Brooklyn. (Photo: Tumblr/Felines of New York)

If you’re a cat lover, you will most definitely like this version the most. “Felines of New York” began a few months ago as a Tumblr documenting the secret lives of the city’s cats and has since spun off into a substantial project. Now, FONY has thousands of followers on Instagram and Twitter, as well, and is even in the midst of becoming a book. The paperback—set to come out in November—is currently available for pre-order on Amazon.

“Being a small business owner isn’t easy these days. You have to do whatever you can to maintain your advantage over the big box stores. Having a cat in your shop is probably the best thing you can do. The chains don’t do that, they can’t have cats. And who doesn’t like a cat? You walk in somewhere and there’s a cat, you’re like ‘Oh shit, there’s a cat. I’m coming back here.’ You know?” (Photo: Tumblr/Felines of New York)

3. Lizard People of New York

“I wasn’t always homeless. I used to be a doctor at a top law firm. But then Mark Zuckerberg announced that he was going to make all of my Facebook posts public unless I paid $5.99. I foolishly did not copy and paste the status in order to skip the payment process. The next day I lost everything.” (Photo: Facebook/Lizard People of New York)

According to the Wire, 12 million Americans believe the conspiracy that lizard people are running the country, presiding over the Supreme Court, running Wall Street and ruling Congress. But there are some regular lizard folks out there, as well, and some don’t believe they’re getting the respect they deserve. Lizards of New York is telling their stories, working from the premise that HONY is a con and the photographed “humans” are actually lizard people. The parody account, which has amassed nearly 100,000 Facebook followers since its inception last year, actually takes photos directly from HONY and gives them a quote more in line with what the photograph actually shows.

For example: HONY shows us a close-up photograph of a pair of someone’s sneakers. The caption reads, “They put me in a mental hospital for two weeks. My dad didn’t talk to me for a month after I came back. When he finally did, he said: ‘Do you have any idea how much your hospital bill cost?’”

The LPONY caption reads: “One day I’m going to morph into a full person, but right now I only feel emotionally ready to be feet.”

“It’s tough being a redhead reptilian. Sometimes I eat too many souls because I’m overcompensating.” (Photo: Facebook/Lizard People of New York)

4. Orcs of New York

“There are good parts and bad parts to growing up with conservative orc parents. They would send me to school in furs and armor and necklaces of human finger bones, and I would change in the school bathroom into pants and a T-shirt so other kids wouldn’t make fun of me, then change back before I went home. I was living a double life for years.Then when I was seventeen I came out as gay, and it wasn’t even a big deal to them. Orcish gender and sexuality norms are actually surprisingly progressive.” (Photo: Facebook/Orcs of New York)

Orcs of New York is striving to give “a face to the Mordor diaspora in New York, one orc at a time” and is doing so by “photographing” orcs in front of scenic NYC backdrops like the New York Public Library, Times Square and Central Park. This HONY parody is only a month old, but it already has more than 60,000 followers on Facebook.

“I do stand up at a mostly orcish bar on 102nd, the Mûmak & Barad. I have a bunch of jokes I’m pretty proud of, but I’ll tell you the absolute worst one. What would the Dark Lord use to expand his vocabulary? A the-Sauron!” (Photo: Facebook/Orcs of New York)

5. Dogs of New York

(Photo: Instagram)

There are two ways to follow NYC’s K9 friends. The first (above) is via the Dogs of New York Instagram, an account that often nixes the quotes all together and just focuses on amazing photography any dog-lover would enjoy.

The second (below), unlike the others in this roundup, involves real interviews with real people. Although the page is titled “Dogs of New York,” it’s as much about the owners as it is their dogs. Creator and animal rights activist Kim Wolf started the project to celebrate the bond between people and pets as a part of her non-profit organization Beyond Breed, which supports NYC pet owners in need.

“I have to take care of my animal. She is a queen…Linda will be 2 in November.” -Paul and Linda, Brooklyn. (Photo: Facebook)

6. Boring Humans of New York

“Zayn will have success as a solo artist – that’s not what I’m worried about. It’s the money…and the power. He’s still so young.” (Photo: Boring Humans of New York)

Boring Humans of New York reads a lot like Millennials of New York. It focuses on the mundane struggles of day to day life while sarcastically mocking them in a way that captures your attention and makes you see (and laugh at) a little of yourself in the post.

“His name is Cocoa Puffs, but he’s diabetic. He’s a dog, though, so the irony is probably lost on him. Is there any pay involved for this? I’m kind of a model.” (Photo: Boring Humans of New York)

7. Monsters of New York

“Pardon me but, who are you? I’ve never seen a monster like you before..” (Photo: Facebook/Monsters of New York)

This parody account is cute and witty as it documents colorful monsters living in NYC. It follows HONY closely, playing off some of the posts and following in its footsteps by going abroad for a bit. The Monsters of New York Facebook page has more than 60,000 followers.

“‘Do you need any help guys?’ – while I’m trying to learn how to paddle in Beihai Park.” (Photo: Facebook/Monsters of New York)

8. Goats of Bangladesh

“People these days walk into their friends’ homes asking for the Wi-Fi password. I walk in and ask for some good Edgar Allan Poe.” (Photo: Facebook/Goats of Bangladesh)

The best international HONY parody is Goats of Bangladesh, which has amassed nearly 40,000 followers on Facebook. The posts are witty, sarcastic and sometimes they get pretty real, but they’re goats! Every newsfeed could use a goat selfie in between human selfies.

“So what do you love the most about life?”“Food.” (Photo: Facebook/ Goats of Bangladesh)

9. Pigeons of Boston

“In college I invented a drink called the Yolo Submarine.”“What’s in that?”“Vodka, orange juice, Plan B and bong water.” (Photo: Facebook/Pigeons of Boston)

Some of these posts are sarcastic, some satirical. Some take another route and go for inspiring quotes, but you can still laugh at those because they’re spoken by pigeons. Also, these pigeons look beautiful and not like they’re been bathing in trash and midtown sludge. Are gross pigeons an NYC thing only?

“Have you ever experimented with drugs?”“Sure, I smoked weed. Once.”“What happened?”“Well, now I’m a pigeon.” (Photo: Facebook/Pigeons of New York)